The New Actors in the System

Chapter 4 left us with a distinction and a warning. The distinction was between automation and autonomy, between systems that follow rules and systems that interpret goals. The warning was that the line between them has already been crossed, quietly, in domains that touch nearly every part of modern life, and that the human in the loop has often become more of a witness than a decider. That argument moved in abstractions: speed, oversight, delegation, abdication. None of those words had a face.